Since Bush took over, we have decidedly not been doing this. As Zakaria says, the rest of the world does not feel inspired by us, it feels humiliated. For the past two years, we have essentially told our allies that, "on the issues that are important to you -- the environment (Germany), immigration policy (Mexico), missile defense (Russia), North Korean policy (South Korea) -- we are going to do what's best for us, and your opinions aren't terribly important to us." It's undeniable that many people have been offended by this tone, and I think maybe we're reaping some of the consequences in the protests and opposition of the past few months.

Now, the people who are leading the protests are the kind who would find something to protest even if the world were perfect. And I'm also not saying that we could make the French love us just by being nicer. But I think we need to ask ouselves why the instigators have found such broad support from the general public, indeed (as Zakaria points out) on a level that is unprecedented in American history. We are the most powerful nation in the world, but we cannot hope to accomplish all that we want to without diplomatic help from other nations. And that help should come because others are inspired by our beacon of freedom, not terrified by a global bully.

Well, now we are where we are. I've said all along that liberating Iraq is the right thing to do, and I still believe that. I hope and pray that liberation will be accomplished as swiftly and bloodlessly as possible. I also hope that the U.N. will take an active role in building the new Iraq once this is done, working together with the U.S. We can certainly win the war by ourselves, but we are fooling ourselves if we think we can "win the peace" without them.